Matthew Wright sparks outrage over Amanda Knox

'The Wright Stuff' host Matthew Wright caused outrage by airing a live debate entitled 'Foxy Knoxy: Would Ya', a segment which asked viewers if they would ''take Amanda Knox home'' after she was acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher

Viewers were stunned when presenter Matthew Wright asked viewers to vote on whether they would "take Amanda Knox home" after the 24-year-old American was acquitted of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in 2007 after spending four years in an Italian jail.

A preview blurb on the Channel 5 website under the tag line 'Foxy Knoxy: Would Ya?' read: "So Amanda Knox has been cleared of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher. She's entirely innocent. She's also undeniably fit and loves wild sex. Or did.

"So if you were a guy who'd met her in a bar and she invited you back to hers, would you go? I'm being quite serious. Or would something in your brain make you think twice?"

However, the segment offended a lot of viewers, who felt it was disrespectful to both Amanda - who was given the nickname 'Foxy Knoxy' by the press - and Meredith and her family.

One viewer wrote on twitter: "The Wright Stuff sinking to all new lows, didn't think it was possible for it to get any worse."

However, Matthew defended the segment, telling The Metro newspaper: "For the last four years, the world has been more than happy to refer to a woman, then presumed to be a killer, as 'Foxy Knoxy' something I find appalling.

"I thought it would be interesting to find out if mud sticks, or whether an innocent young woman could now go out and behave in a perfectly normal way. The real disgrace is the Foxy Knoxy epithet."

A 'Wright Stuff' spokesperson added: "The discussion conducted between Matthew Wright and our panel of Kelly Hoppen, Christopher Biggins and Liz McClarnon was handled extremely sensitively and at no point did we lose sight of the fact that at the heart of the matter is the tragic death of a young girl - Meredith Kercher."